REDESCRIPTION OF PSEUDOLEPIDAPEDON BALISTIS MANTER, 1940 AND A BIOLOGICAL VARIANT (TREMATODA: ACANTHOCOLPIDAE) FROM THE RED SEA FISHS; BALISTOIDES VIRIDESCENS AND RHINECANTHUS ASSASI.

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Medical Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, eGYPT.

2 Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Qena, South Valley University, Egypt.

Abstract

During a survey of Red Sea fish parasites, two trematodes belonging to the genus PseudolepidapedonYamaguti, 1938 were encountered: P. balistisManter, 1940 was found in the small intestine of the fish Balistoidesviridescens and was redescribed for the first time from Egypt; adding many detailed morphological and ultrastructural characters. The second
trematode was found in the small intestine of the fish Rhinecanthusassasi and found to represent a biological variant of the previous species as it differs from it in its generally smaller dimensions, shape of suckers and pharynx and the testes. SEM details of the first species were described for the first time illustrating the differences in the spination and papillae on different parts of the body; which may be of taxonomic importance in recognizing future different species of the genus.

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